Doughnut cutting machine



Feb. 7, 1950 w, c, HANSON 2,496,468

DOUGHNUT CUTTING MACHINE Filed June 24, 1946 1 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

ZUaZZer Cfianson WWW F eb. 7, 1950 Filed June 24, 1946 w. c. HANSON 2,496,468

DOUGHNUT CUTTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 DOUGH 7 INVENTOR.

(ZUaZ Z er Cfan sun Patented Feb. 7, 1950 UNITED PATENT ()FFIQE wane-1o;inaaarasm; Calif assigner" drone: half to David R. McKinley," Sacramento, Calif.

Appi'aai'ioa Jute 24, 1946; seen NB. agar (Cl. I07-"23) a: 4 came.

This invention is; directed mend it is an object to provide, a commercial doughnut cutting ma;- chine operative, in combination with :a' conveyor belt on which r1 on of dou h is disposed, to out such dough into thelforni of doughnuts preparatory to coo-king the same. h h

Another object of are invention to provide a doughnutcuttingmachine, as above, i rl iich includes a drunilassemloly having a plurality of doughnut cutting units onand projecting outwardly frornthe periphery thereof; the drum assembly being frictionally driveri i-rom the conveyor belt, and thereioeing novel means functioning with rotation of said dnumassembly to discharge the doughnuts fro n the cutting units after the latter' r-un in engagement with said conveyor belt to q i dfp m ch de hnu e.

Ali-additional object of the invention is to provide a doughnut cutting machine, as in the preceding paragraph, wherein said means comp-rises doughnut pushoutmains mounted in the drum assemhly in position to work through the cutting units, and a cammechanism operative to retract said pins prior to the cutting'uni'ts engaging the ribbon of dough on the'conveyor belt; and to advancesaid pins through the cutting units after each doughnut forming operation.

A-further object of the inf/fie" tion is tofpr'oduce an eiiective andlpractical' device for the purpose for whichit is'designe'd. H 7

These objects are accomplished by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will i-ully appear ioy a perusal of the following specification and claims.

Inthedrawing's:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the machine.

Fig. 2 is a cross section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of one of the cam discs, detached.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of one row of the doughnut cutting units, detached.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of one row of the pushout pins, detached.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the doughnut cutting machine comprises a horizontal shaft i supported in non-rotatable relation transverse- 1y alcove a conveyor belt 2 by means of upstanding standards 3. At opposite ends the shaft I is secured to the standards 3 by clamps 4.

A drum assembly is rotatably mounted on the fixed shaft l between the standards 3, and comprises a pair of relatively widely spaced circular 2' bearings 61 The heads 5' are connected tog'ethr', in rigidrelation, by a spacer sleeve 1 h red to said heads in concentric surrounding relation to the shaft i'. At their peripheries the endheads 5 are connected hy'a plurality of circumferential- 1y spaced, transversely eiiten'dingparallel'Chars 8, and each such ]oar carries a' transverse row of doughnut cutting units, each of whi'ch is indicated generally at: 9" Each of the doughnutoutting units 9 co s an outside cutter ring i0 and a" center cutter rirr g H of considerably lesser diameter disposed. in concentric relation to; the cutter ring Ill. Both of the ring'sjllljand ll of g each cutting unit 9 are relatively sharjpat their I followi end heads 5 turnably mounted on said shaft by outer edges. The doughnut cutting units 9 project outwardly from the; bars 8 a distance such tha tjs'aid units run, at the bottom of the] drum assembly, in fire onal engagement with the conv'eyor belt 2:, whereby said dr-um assembly is driven in the di'rctioi'i' indicated by the arrow in Fig.2.

Whenthe machine is in operation a ribbon or layer of dc'ughj i2' is ted tothe conveyor belt 2 ahead or the doughn t cutting machine, nd is engaged :by thedru'rn ass'einbly as said'riobon passes tnrebneath. With .pas'siag'eof thelri bbon r dueh. zir n i ih r m a sem jiin mi ting units a, which ar jrict 'onally en aginep e v conveyoi jb elt 2', out through said ribbon to ram 30' the jdoiighnuts. v y v j The"doughni tsg agent or formed by' the units Iii tendito remaininthe'l'a'tter, but are distharged therefrom back nto the conveyor .belt 2 by the iig' structural arrang eme'ht lly'putwardly' oi fch'end headjithein'achine includes a disc is; each navmg' a hub l4 keyed, as at I5, onto the shaft I, whereby said cam discs l3 are non-rotatable. The cam discs l3 are each formed, adjacent the periphery thereof, with a laterally inwardly opening eccentric cam track or channel I6 of predetermined configuration. Rods -|1 correspond to and are disposed radially inwardly of the bars 8, and said rods project, at the ends, through slots 18 in the end heads, and thence extend into the cam tracks.

In corresponding relation to each cutting unit ii the adjacent rod I? is fixed with the following doughnut pushout pin arrangement:

A center pushout pin I9 is fixed on the rod and projects through a bore 20 opening into the center cutter ring I i, while four symmetricall arranged pushout pins 2| extend in pairs on opposite sides of the adjacent bar l8 for movement through the outside cutter ring I0, the latter ,being of substantially greater diameter than the width of the loar 8, whereby the pushout pins 2| can be disposed as claimed. The pushout pins 21 for each cutting unit 9 are in the form of two U-shaped members secured to the corresponding rod I! on opposite sides of the center pushout pm I 9 and straddling the adjacent bar 8.

Rotation of the rods I1 is prevented by radial guide rods 22 extending from collars 23 fixed on the rods if; said guide rods 22 projecting inwardly in slidable relation through guide ears 24 on the inner face of one of the circular end heads 5.

The configuration of the cam tracks [6 is such that the rods [1, together with the pushout pins [9 and 2 l, are retracted in advance of the cutting units 9 engaging the ribbon of dough l2, and are held so retracted until the doughnuts have been cut. Thereafter, and as the cutting units 9 begin to rise away from the conveyor belt 2, the cam tracks 16 act on the rods I! to advance the pins l9 and 2| through the cutting units 9 so as to discharge the formed doughnuts, which then fall back onto the conveyor belt 2. At a following point on said conveyor belt 2 the doughnuts, and trimmings, are separated by hand.

With the described doughnut cutting machine,

doughnuts may be cut or formed commercially in a practical, speedy, and effective manner, the machine being of such construction that it requires a minimum of maintenance or repair, and

, can be readily cleaned preparatory to, or after,

use.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that there has been produced such a device v as substantially fulfills the objects of the invenplurality of circumferentially spaced apart parallel bars fixed to thezperipheries of the end heads and extending between said heads, a plurality of doughnut cutting units mounted on each bar, each. such cutting unit comprising a cutter ring fixed to the face of the adjacent bar and such ring being of a diameter to project to each side thereof to leave open spaces between the side edges of the bar and the inner periphery of the cutter ring, and a dough conveyor belt disposed tangentially of the periphery of the machine, groups of push out pins, the pins of each such group straddling the bar from the back and being so positioned relative to the cutter rings that when reciprocated they will move through the cutter rings, and means to reciprocate such groups of push out pins.

2. A cutting machine as in claim 1 in which the push out pins are spaced from the inner peripheries of the cutter rings.

3. A doughnut cutting machine comprising a supported shaft, a pair of spaced apart circular end heads mounted for rotation on the shaft, a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart parallel bars fixed to the peripheries of the end heads and extending between said heads, a plurality of doughnut cutting units mounted on each bar, each such cutting unit comprising a. cutter ring fixed to the face of the adjacent bar and such ring being of a diameter to project to each side thereof to leave open spaces between the side edges of the bar and the inner periphery of the cutter ring, and a dough conveyor belt disposed tangentially of the periphery of the machine, a rod disposed parallel to each bar and spaced therefrom inwardly toward said shaft, means to reciprocate said rods toward and away from the bars, and a group of spaced apart push out pins fixed to the rods adjacent each cutter ring, such finger-s straddling the adjacent bar and projecting into the adjacent cutter ring.

4. A machine as in claim 3, including a radial guide member on each of said rods, guide ears on the end heads, each guide member projecting through one of said guide ears in sliding relation thereto, whereby the rods will rotate with the heads while allowing such reciprocation thereof.

WALTER C. HANSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 29,295 Marsh July 24, 1860 870,249 Patterson Nov. 5, 1907 1,656,590 Longstreth et a1. Jan. 17, 1928 1,945,755 Scruggs Feb. 6, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 11,128 Great Britain June 30, 1891 

